Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X's widow, dies at 61

Death came 3 weeks after she suffered severe burns

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Betty Shabazz, the widow of civil rights
leader Malcolm X, died Monday, three weeks after being
severely burned in a fire allegedly set by her 12-year-old
grandson.

Shabazz, 61, had suffered third-degree burns over 80 percent
of her body in the June 1 incident at her home in Yonkers,
just north of New York City. She had remained in extremely
critical condition, undergoing several operations as doctors
struggled to replace damaged skin and save her life.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced the death, saying
he had been informed by the family. Giuliani said he wanted
to "express my sympathy, my condolences to her family that's
with her and all the people who work with her, know her and
love her so much."

"Millions of people look to her for some kind of
understanding of the history of the struggle," said black
activist and poet Amiri Baraka. "She's the wife of one of the
greatest African-American leaders of history."

Within hours of the fire, Shabazz's grandson was arrested and
accused of setting the blaze, reportedly because he was
unhappy he had been sent to live with his grandmother. He is
being held in juvenile custody.

Doctors had said Shabazz might linger for weeks in critical
condition but that patients with her severity of injuries
usually have less than a 10 percent chance of survival.

Future Betty Shabazz went to Tuskegee, New York

As a young woman, Shabazz left the comfortable home of her
adoptive parents in Detroit to study at the Tuskegee
Institute, a well-known historically black college in
Alabama. She later went to New York, where she became a
registered nurse.

In New York, friends invited her to lectures by Nation of
Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. He gave all of his followers
the last name "X," representing the African family name they
would never know.

It was in 1956 that Betty X met Malcolm X, then a rising star
in the Nation of Islam. Two years later they married, and
within five years they had four daughters.

After splitting from Muhammad in 1964, Malcolm and Betty X
adopted the Muslim surname Shabazz. In early 1965, Malcolm
was gunned down while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom in
Harlem. Betty Shabazz, pregnant with twins, was in the
audience and covered her girls on the floor as the bullets
flew.

"Sister Betty came through the people, herself a nurse, and
people recognizing her moved back; she fell on her knees,
looking down on his bare, bullet-pocked chest, sobbing, 'They
killed him!'" wrote Alex Haley in the book "The Autobiography
of Malcolm X."

"Betty was fortunate enough to have the wisdom to raise
several individuals in her family, to give them their own
personality, their own motivation, their own skills," said
Wilbert Tatum, publisher of The Amsterdam News, an
African-American newspaper in New York. "She did a superb job
in raising those children."

After assassination, Shabazz earned doctorate

After her husband's death, Shabazz returned to school,
eventually earning a doctorate in education from the
University of Massachusetts in 1975. She went to work as an
administrator at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and
traveled widely, speaking on topics such as civil rights and
racial tolerance.

"One of the things Malcolm always said to me is, 'Don't be
bitter. Remember Lot's wife when they kill me, and they
surely will. You have to use all of your energy to do what it
is you have to do,'" Shabazz said in a May 1995 speech.

In 1994, Shabazz spoke publicly about the long-held suspicion
that Louis Farrakhan, the current leader of the Nation of
Islam, had been behind the assassination of her husband.

A year later, her daughter Qubilah Shabazz was charged in
Minneapolis with trying to hire a hit man to kill Farrakhan.
Betty Shabazz stood behind her daughter, insisting that an
FBI informant entrapped her.

Qubilah Shabazz made a deal with prosecutors in which they
agreed to drop charges if she completed treatment for alcohol
and psychiatric problems. She signed an affidavit accepting
responsibility for her conduct but maintained her innocence.

It is Qubilah Shabazz's son who now stands accused of
starting the fire that killed Betty Shabazz.

Betty Shabazz eventually reconciled with Farrakhan, shaking
his hand on the stage of Harlem's Apollo Theater as 1,400
people cheered at a fund-raiser for her daughter's defense.
She also spoke at Farrakhan's Million Man March in October
1995.